Today we crossed the border into Zambia and the roads got worse and worse. It took us 2-3 hours to go 20km they’re that rutted and we had to crawl along, bouncing all over the show. The truck really gets a hammering and despite the slow speed, we still managed to break a spring. Going slow does have its advantages though as there is so much to see and we went through so many villages.
Most of the camps we’ve stayed in have been fairly similar in style in that they’re fenced and gated with guard dogs (everything unlocked or unattached seems to grow legs and walk), have running water (sometimes hot if we’re lucky) and toilet facilities of sorts. The camps are usually pretty open and spread out to cater for trucks and 4WDs etc and most have some sort of security either in the form of a thick hedge with a fence through it or high solid steel fence and locked gates and dogs are a given. Flatdogs Camp was different. Way way different. For starters its right on the edge of South Luangwa National Park, bordered by the Luangwa River and has no fences or dogs at all. The first sounds we heard as soon as we were off the truck came from the hippos in the river – what a noise, I never knew that hippos made such a noise! Its akin to a combination of a dogs bark and the noises pigs make when they are excited or running (almost like a dogs bark too in a way). Needless to say Euan and I were straight over to have a look and the view was simply breathtaking (the photos below do not do it justice).
The river was immense and stretched in one long straight, kilometres long, either side of the camp side and…. it was absolutely teeming with hippos and crocs but you didn’t realise it until they surfaced. The camp edge was only about 20m from the river banks and there was nothing stopping the animals from wandering through and, you know what? They did!!! The below was taken as the elephants were leaving the camp.
Its dry season and the river was nowhere near running at capacity so there was a wide strip of exposed river bed before you actually got to the water. The campsite ran for about 200m along the river before the bush took over the land and the hippos took over the riverbank. This is the view down the river.
We were told we had to pitch the tents at least a few meters apart to allow the elephants and hippos through and they weren’t joking as about an hour after we arrived elephants came through, like straight through, the campsite. I can’t describe what its like to stand, close but very still and silent, watching as they’re tearing apart trees and stripping the leaves off branches. They really do demolish things and leave a trail of destruction in their wake.
They passed by a couple who were sitting/lying at a picnic table and didn’t see the need to move as the elephants were passing by quietly.
Then they came a bit closer and the girl woke her partner and told him to stay very very still and quiet then climbed under the table leaving him on top!
Then one of the elephants started walking over with purpose and they really started to worry
The elephant came within a few meters of them feeling out with its trunk, flapping its ears and I really wasn’t sure what it was going to do. The camp manager had told us in the briefing to keep at least 30m distance with a tree or car/truck handy so we could climb up/get in
The couple were scared, really scared - the guy on the table lay still as and the girl wasn’t doing much either and even I, about 10m away, walked slowly backwards as I didn’t want to aggravate it further. When I turned around to make sure I wasn’t backing into something else, there was a damn monkey right there creeping up on me so I went “tskkk” at him and glared and he went “tskkkk” back at me, bared his teeth and came closer! Gave me a hell of a fright and I had to try and keep an eye on this monkey and see where the elephant was going.
Once the elephant had moved away, I turned around to see what the couple were doing. They’d disappeared but I spotted them up a nearby tree moments. Could have been quite serious but I got the giggles.
The elephants kept us entertained for hours but we took to hiding behind something so we could watch them at close range
The baby was very cute and his Mum so fat!
A couple of us ventured (perhaps stupidly) down onto the dry riverbed to have a look at a couple of big crocs that were lying in the shallow water. We weren’t sure how fast they could run so we didn’t go too close but we felt incredibly exposed nonetheless and wouldn’t have a show of running anywhere if something chose to come out of the bush or water at us. It was hot so we didn’t think anything would have bothered. When we came back out, a giraffe was visiting.
This photo shows who really owns the camp – the animals. Its brilliant. You’re sitting there eating your lunch and an elephant decides to walk on through. Everything edible gets packed up, very quickly, and you get the hell out of the way to somewhere safe as they get very annoyed if you get in the way – a lot of ear flapping goes on which is a sure sign to get out of the way and quickly.
The hippos didn’t venture out of the water much during the day but at night, they all came out to eat and Euan and I came across one wandering through the camp on our way back from the bar (yep, some of these places are very civilized for camping grounds!). I’ve never been close to a hippo, let alone a wild one and at ground level. They really are huge and you wouldn’t want to get in their way. About four of us were up until 0200 that morning ‘hunting’ wildlife and it was just the best fun. We got close to giraffe, hippo and elephant that night – probably too close to be safe at times but we’re still here and I’ve not had so much fun running round at night for years! Stalking giraffe and using tree trunks as cover was brilliant fun and pure comedy to watch if. Sometimes I had to hang back because I was laughing so much.
We did a couple of game drives the next day and got close to a lioness and her three cubs.
The cubs were just lazing around and making a half-hearted effort at playing.
There was a male and two other lionesses but they were fooling round in the bushes and we left them to their fun.
The buffalo looked as staunch as ever
and I never thought I’d describe a hippo as dainty (and he had such a cute hairy chin!)
This is my favourite animal – the greater kudu and man, can they jump! I didn’t realise it but they’re not the largest of the antelope species. The eland (that we saw dead in the Serengeti) is the largest by a long shot.
These impala were grooming each other in the middle of the road. They’re such dainty quaint animals and their markings are plain but stunning at the same time.
We drove along the river and saw so many crocodiles (we counted at least 50 in 500m stretch) in the river it wasn’t funny. There is no way anyone would last if they ventured in or too close to the water.
The night drive that we did was brilliant. A cross between off-roading and game watching as our driver was determined to find us a leopard (and he did). I’ve not been in a national park where you can drive off the tracks/roads and this guys made the most of it as we went bush bashing! I’m amazed that we saw anything at all but it was great fun.
I really really really wanted to stay another few nights at the camp and kind of hoped that the broken spring wouldn’t be fixed but our driver spend all day, ½ the night and the next day working to fix it. He dislocated his finger, took skin off his hands and cut his fingers but got the damn thing fixed. I was gutted. It was just so peaceful sitting in the sun by the river, listening to the hippos calling up and down the river, watching the birds, the giraffe if they chose to wander past, listening to the elephants trumpeting. It really was my sort of place (but I’m thinking this more and more throughout Africa although Euan prefers somewhere a bit more developed) and I wondered how on earth I managed to live in London for so long.
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Most of the camps we’ve stayed in have been fairly similar in style in that they’re fenced and gated with guard dogs (everything unlocked or unattached seems to grow legs and walk), have running water (sometimes hot if we’re lucky) and toilet facilities of sorts. The camps are usually pretty open and spread out to cater for trucks and 4WDs etc and most have some sort of security either in the form of a thick hedge with a fence through it or high solid steel fence and locked gates and dogs are a given. Flatdogs Camp was different. Way way different. For starters its right on the edge of South Luangwa National Park, bordered by the Luangwa River and has no fences or dogs at all. The first sounds we heard as soon as we were off the truck came from the hippos in the river – what a noise, I never knew that hippos made such a noise! Its akin to a combination of a dogs bark and the noises pigs make when they are excited or running (almost like a dogs bark too in a way). Needless to say Euan and I were straight over to have a look and the view was simply breathtaking (the photos below do not do it justice).
The river was immense and stretched in one long straight, kilometres long, either side of the camp side and…. it was absolutely teeming with hippos and crocs but you didn’t realise it until they surfaced. The camp edge was only about 20m from the river banks and there was nothing stopping the animals from wandering through and, you know what? They did!!! The below was taken as the elephants were leaving the camp.
Its dry season and the river was nowhere near running at capacity so there was a wide strip of exposed river bed before you actually got to the water. The campsite ran for about 200m along the river before the bush took over the land and the hippos took over the riverbank. This is the view down the river.
We were told we had to pitch the tents at least a few meters apart to allow the elephants and hippos through and they weren’t joking as about an hour after we arrived elephants came through, like straight through, the campsite. I can’t describe what its like to stand, close but very still and silent, watching as they’re tearing apart trees and stripping the leaves off branches. They really do demolish things and leave a trail of destruction in their wake.
They passed by a couple who were sitting/lying at a picnic table and didn’t see the need to move as the elephants were passing by quietly.
Then they came a bit closer and the girl woke her partner and told him to stay very very still and quiet then climbed under the table leaving him on top!
Then one of the elephants started walking over with purpose and they really started to worry
The elephant came within a few meters of them feeling out with its trunk, flapping its ears and I really wasn’t sure what it was going to do. The camp manager had told us in the briefing to keep at least 30m distance with a tree or car/truck handy so we could climb up/get in
The couple were scared, really scared - the guy on the table lay still as and the girl wasn’t doing much either and even I, about 10m away, walked slowly backwards as I didn’t want to aggravate it further. When I turned around to make sure I wasn’t backing into something else, there was a damn monkey right there creeping up on me so I went “tskkk” at him and glared and he went “tskkkk” back at me, bared his teeth and came closer! Gave me a hell of a fright and I had to try and keep an eye on this monkey and see where the elephant was going.
Once the elephant had moved away, I turned around to see what the couple were doing. They’d disappeared but I spotted them up a nearby tree moments. Could have been quite serious but I got the giggles.
The elephants kept us entertained for hours but we took to hiding behind something so we could watch them at close range
The baby was very cute and his Mum so fat!
A couple of us ventured (perhaps stupidly) down onto the dry riverbed to have a look at a couple of big crocs that were lying in the shallow water. We weren’t sure how fast they could run so we didn’t go too close but we felt incredibly exposed nonetheless and wouldn’t have a show of running anywhere if something chose to come out of the bush or water at us. It was hot so we didn’t think anything would have bothered. When we came back out, a giraffe was visiting.
This photo shows who really owns the camp – the animals. Its brilliant. You’re sitting there eating your lunch and an elephant decides to walk on through. Everything edible gets packed up, very quickly, and you get the hell out of the way to somewhere safe as they get very annoyed if you get in the way – a lot of ear flapping goes on which is a sure sign to get out of the way and quickly.
The hippos didn’t venture out of the water much during the day but at night, they all came out to eat and Euan and I came across one wandering through the camp on our way back from the bar (yep, some of these places are very civilized for camping grounds!). I’ve never been close to a hippo, let alone a wild one and at ground level. They really are huge and you wouldn’t want to get in their way. About four of us were up until 0200 that morning ‘hunting’ wildlife and it was just the best fun. We got close to giraffe, hippo and elephant that night – probably too close to be safe at times but we’re still here and I’ve not had so much fun running round at night for years! Stalking giraffe and using tree trunks as cover was brilliant fun and pure comedy to watch if. Sometimes I had to hang back because I was laughing so much.
We did a couple of game drives the next day and got close to a lioness and her three cubs.
The cubs were just lazing around and making a half-hearted effort at playing.
There was a male and two other lionesses but they were fooling round in the bushes and we left them to their fun.
The buffalo looked as staunch as ever
and I never thought I’d describe a hippo as dainty (and he had such a cute hairy chin!)
This is my favourite animal – the greater kudu and man, can they jump! I didn’t realise it but they’re not the largest of the antelope species. The eland (that we saw dead in the Serengeti) is the largest by a long shot.
These impala were grooming each other in the middle of the road. They’re such dainty quaint animals and their markings are plain but stunning at the same time.
We drove along the river and saw so many crocodiles (we counted at least 50 in 500m stretch) in the river it wasn’t funny. There is no way anyone would last if they ventured in or too close to the water.
The night drive that we did was brilliant. A cross between off-roading and game watching as our driver was determined to find us a leopard (and he did). I’ve not been in a national park where you can drive off the tracks/roads and this guys made the most of it as we went bush bashing! I’m amazed that we saw anything at all but it was great fun.
I really really really wanted to stay another few nights at the camp and kind of hoped that the broken spring wouldn’t be fixed but our driver spend all day, ½ the night and the next day working to fix it. He dislocated his finger, took skin off his hands and cut his fingers but got the damn thing fixed. I was gutted. It was just so peaceful sitting in the sun by the river, listening to the hippos calling up and down the river, watching the birds, the giraffe if they chose to wander past, listening to the elephants trumpeting. It really was my sort of place (but I’m thinking this more and more throughout Africa although Euan prefers somewhere a bit more developed) and I wondered how on earth I managed to live in London for so long.
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2 comments:
Loved reading about your time at Flatdogs Camp in the National Park. Absolutely incredible to have all those beautiful animals at such close proximity ----maybe not the crocs! Wonderful photos, and an amazing experience for you both. You are pretty courageous Kate, but I do remember how you have always loved animals. You certainly have some rough roads to travel on, and some primitive campsites. All part of your incredible journey.
Margaret
does that mean you're not coming back :)
L
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